Nail dust a carcinogen?

[nailsbydesign]

It is not necessarily a vanity thing - I am a glasses wearer and I have tried wearing a mask and all I get is a sweaty face and steamed up glasses LOL.

SNAP!!!!

 

[1999judy]

purex...

... u telling people that.. isn't a good idea when it comes to wanting to sell nail desks!!!

if this is the case, and nail infections are carried airborne.... then people could just wear heavy duty masks and eliminate dust AND odour.... which could save them hundreds of pounds on nail desks incorporating extraction unit - as a heavy duty mask would be more beneficial than a nail desk. they could just use other cheaper and effective methods!!!

A lot of people do wear masks in other countries, and that is just to walk to work.

 

[datgirltwista]

so filing the nails we can breathe fungus ok
but i ve always been told to refuse clients with some kind of nails conditions
so i guess if u work with clients that are not having nails disorders you should be fine ...
no?

 

[1999judy]

so filing the nails we can breathe fungus ok
but i ve always been told to refuse clients with some kind of nails conditions
so i guess if u work with clients that are not having nails disorders you should be fine ...
no?

http://www.thenailgeek.com/health-safety-natural-nails/3623-frosty-dust-man.html

Perhaps you will find this article of some use.

 

[jadeypops]

Thats a very good point well made.
xx:green:

Although I am only just starting out with nails, my work as an occupational health technician might help here. You are defo right about the extraction desk, as this is one of the best ways to get rid of the dust particles that I have seen to cause people occupational asthma. As to the other comments about the masks, although these would protect the technician I don't think they are the best solution as they may not be practical and like others have said it may not give the right impression to the client. However, I don't have experience with this so not sure on it, I do however think that the extraction desks, from a health point of view are very valuable. x x x

 

[datgirltwista]

http://www.thenailgeek.com/health-safety-natural-nails/3623-frosty-dust-man.html

Perhaps you will find this article of some use.

i learned all that before passing the state board exam
but thanks
it doesn t talk about this fungus dust problem though

 

[The Geek]

Ill see if I can get Dr. Mix to comment. From my recollection the amount of spores is negligible and not an issue (you breathe fungal spores in 24/7 regardless of if you are doing a pedicure or not).
Remember that podiatrists will be seeing 'worse case scenarios' - many that you wouldn't be able to work on anyway.

I just didn't really want to comment until I got clarification from him just in case. Hopefully ill hear from him today.

 

[Cashew]

As a medical professional, we are told to wear 'PPE' (personal protective equipment) as the need arises.

We are to wear gloves when there is ANY chance of coming in contact with body fluids with our hands. For us, this includes clipping nails, due to the risk of nicking someone and coming in contact with blood, or contact with the 'only god knows what's under there' schmutz we tend to come in contact with.

We are to wear masks AND/OR eye protection when there is ANY chance of getting any contact with various things in our faces.... these things include:

• Regular masks can be worn to prevent spread of certain germs spread in droplet form from talking and breathing. These germs tend to be larger than 5 micrometers in size. Its about the size of a dust particle. This is stuff like nasty infections. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/gl_isolation_droplet.html
• Special Filter Masks are worn for really bad bugs (read: TB) these germs are the size of a saccharine module. (ie: less than 5 micrometers.)You have a better chance of catching a bug like this on public transportation or in the supermarket, than in a 1:1 meeting, like nail care http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/gl_isolation_airborne.html
• Masks and eye protection are worn when there is risk of getting hit in the face with some unsavory stuff (toenail clipping is a major one of those. Sometimes older folk get mycotic toenails-- As a nurse, I can tell you that some of the stuff they see is absolutely gross, and odds are you would send anyone with something like that away from first glance. You do not want to get caught in the eye, nose or mouth with any body tissue or fluid, esp. from clients of this sort.)

Now, all serious grossness aside, in medicine, we are taught to follow something called standard precautions... This basically means to treat all people and all the stuff on them and in them as potentially infected.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/gl_isolation_standard.html

basically, it all comes down to, you are not only keeping people's germs out of you, but you are keeping your germs out of people. The best way to prevent spread is proper handwashing, and proper use of PPE.

I hope this helps....
-Cashew

 

[1999judy]

i learned all that before passing the state board exam
but thanks
it doesn t talk about this fungus dust problem though

I was referring to your question regarding clients NOT having nail disorders.

 

[Purex]

Remember that podiatrists will be seeing 'worse case scenarios' - many that you wouldn't be able to work on anyway.

I agree with Sam.

Also, I was talking specifically about Podiatry.

People with these infections may go to see the Podiatrist because of the infection, not just to get their nails clipped. So the poor Podiatrist does not have the option of saying 'sorry, can't touch your feet in that state'

Podiatrists also use nail drills to remove large amounts of nail material and they also 'sand' away callouses/skin etc. So this is why they are more exposed to nasties.

 

[CadenceAlex]

Hi everyone :green:

I did a one week test on just how much dust is actually generated during nail enhancements. I captured this dust using my exposure reducing manicurist workstation that invented just for nail techs. I achieved this by allowing the dust that is swept off of my work surface after each service into a recessed dust compartment (which is cleaned at the end of each day) and dust underneath the removable grey granite working plate. (which is cleaned at the end of each day) to be collected and stored in the dust compartment and underneath the work plate for one full work week (5 days and 56 Clients).
My clients were never at risk of an unclean work surface, as I always kept the dust away from them and I always use proper sanitation to clean the work surface after each consumer.
The dust was captured at the work surface where product application and the filing zone is [The Breathing Zone] and from the entire enclosed table-top area as well as the compartment where the extracted air from the chamber is taken to a special filtering system.

You can view the pictures of the dust accumulation in this test on my message board located athttp://forums.delphiforums.com/nailnerd it is under the Title for "Safety Equipment."
"You can enter as a guest you do not have to become a member to view my message board."

With this amount of dust that is captured in an enclosure for manufacturing nails enhancements one can really see just how much exposure is really going on and can speculate that there is a vast amounts of dust floating around in nail salons as the only way to capture the maximum amount of dust that is generated is to have a enclosure with and a “special extraction system” over the entire working surface.

The benefits of having this workstation is so great and is truly a nail techs dream come true I look forward to sharing it with the industry.

I am working on getting this awesome piece of equipment on to the market so if any of you peps are interested please send me a PM and let me know. :hug:

can this work desk you're trying to get on the market also make a cup of tea and do the enhancements for us?! :lol:

there are several desks like this around and i wouldn't have thought that one client could generate enough dust over such a big space to warrant needing extraction over the whole surface?

but u sure must be busy... trying to get nail desks coprighted, writing reports about the industry and doing nails!!!

 

[geeg]

There are many ways to minimizes the amounts of dust generated at the nail station. YOU DON'T HAVE TO CREATE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE or at least not as much as nailnerd seems to generate at her station.

I have always worked with extraction ventilation at my desk as manufacturers recommend. I have had overhead systems installed and also have used desk ventilation. I preferred the overhead system much more, and it was actually more effective at collecting the airborne dust from the breathing zone. But I always work with techniques that minimize the amount of dust, and I teach all my students to do the same.

 

[sarah147]

what is the best type of desk top ventaltation? and were can you get them from?

 

[nICKKIM]

I am a Web/graphic designer doing a project on a company that makes nail salon products. I was doing some research on same topic as you.

I think this product will help. It's called "Sunflower" that sucks in all air pollutants, from basic fumes to UV-Gel, and finely-ground nail powders.

Check it out at
www.bauusa.com

 

[The Geek]

Thats pretty cool and more effective looking than I would have thought. Where does the dust and vapour go?

 

[melissaq]

Thats pretty cool and more effective looking than I would have thought. Where does the dust and vapour go?

I was thinking the same thing......looks interesting

 

[nailsbydesign]

It says that it uses carbon filters so maybe the air is just recycled back into the room after being filtered just like my carbon filter in my nail desk does.